The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1887-06-04
IN DIAN FAR m Frs.
A Reservation Farm Instructor Who
Thinks the Red Man May be
Tanned.
Letter to Chicago Current.

Letter TO Chicago Current.l
Our Eastern critics, when condemning the
Indian as worthless and lazy, and utterly
incapable of learning even so simple mat
ter as farming" speak either without the
least knowledge of farmingsor in total igno-
rance of the work done and being done by
Indian farmers. Rome was not built in
day." nor can farming be learned in season
or two.
1t is ludicrous and occasionally an exas-
perating matter to work at blowing with the
Indians. By some accident they have exact
ly reversed the ''gee" and ''haw" orders to
their oxen. This makes it trifle more difi-
cult to drive yoke successfully. Further
more, .each separate yoke of oxen has been
trained and broken by the owner himself,
after method and in a manner that none
but himself can manage with any ease.
When first came among them it was the
usual thing to see the man at the handles
and son on each side of the yoke, both
armed with whips. The noble Red at the
handles was far too busy trying to keep his
feet, his whole muscular force engaged with
the plow. which ierked him right, left, up
and down, and soon exhausted him, to be
II
The thirteen inch turf plows furnished
these people are most unwieldy In Ignorant
hands. With the gauge wheel a tribe TOO
shallow or too deep, the Golfer TOO iar ior-
en- drawing too far right or too far left, plow-
ing is a decidedly fatiguing task.
| shall never forget the first time stopped
disarranged plow, which had for an hour
or more required all of an able bodied mans
muscle and attention to keepsit In the ground.
Ten minutes at adjusting reduced the piow
TO order, and the EXPLANATIONS aroused by
my driving and blowing alone with only one
hand on the handles, we're comic in the ex-
IRENE. From that time during the entire
blowing season my services were almost con-
stantly in demand to adjust plows to work
ing order. Few Of the men have yet learned
to let the pillow do the work.
Another disadvantage in furthering CROP
cultivation is the lack Of needful tools. One
horse plows and cultivators are quite as nee
essary as heavy plows and harrows, espec-
Tally when the .. s% @sbk 9}or which they
Father too nervous.
In our attempts to persuade such Indians
| as are ldisinclined to work, we are greatly
helped by the system adopted by the agent
| of distributing the oxen, wagons, and har-
| ness among those having the best farms,
| l. O.. most acres cultivated. In another year
there will be but few able-bodied Indians in
| the district without five or more acres under
| cultivation. One farm in this camp has seven
Il
an increase of thirty-six acres next season.
| This is now the largest farm in the district
| or reserve. 80
| Hitherto the Indians have with justice
| claimed that large farms were useless to
| them, since they had no market for their
| produce. But that has now been overcome
| by the government consenting to purchase
| their grain. Their desire to obtain money
| has given an impetus to farming that bid.
fair to produce large results next season.
To the oft-repeated saying that an Indian
Is too lazy TO work" one might justly ret0rt,
"Why should hep" The governments poll
cy Of furnishing them sufficient food cloth
ing and utensils (Which. by the by the Indi-
ans have amply paid for) to enable them to
scrub through with the help Of their dos
soup, and the clause in the treaty promis
ing them these things until the Indians arr
able to support themselves" Is to then
| sufficient reason for deferring 1.-THE "self-sup
porting" time as long as possible. Consid
ering the general desire Of the whites to lly,
with as little labor as possible there Is moth
ing surprising in the fact that the Indian
| should do the same. Yet they do work, o
at least the great majority Of them do, an6
do the work with poorer and fewer nipple
ments, and at far greater disadvantages thai
the poorest white man In civilized regions
farm of an acre reflects more credit on al
Indian, considering his means, than farr
J of forty acres does on white man wit
every advantage at his disposal
! Shortly after the arrival OF new farm In
, structor, one of the chiefs called on hin
| and, through an interpreter. began directin
I | him where and how much land the instructC
should plow for each man In his camp. :.
) short inquiry sufficed to show that the chit
\ was laboring under the impression that u
. government had sent the Instructor to do Il